Billy Monger has spoken about reaching a major milestone on his road to Kona and the IRONMAN Triathlon World Championships in October.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Comic Relief, the 25-year-old former racing driver – now a popular television presenter and star, most notably for Channel 4 F1 – will face the sport’s toughest test in Hawaii on October 26.
After suffering near-life-changing injuries in a racing accident in 2017, Billy had to have both his legs amputated, but the severity of his injuries did not stop him from pushing new boundaries in the sport.
A year after his accident, Monger returned to racing, taking podium finishes in British F3 races. In 2021, he embarked on his first adventure in endurance racing, raising £3 million for charity by crossing England in four days on foot, by bike and by kayak.
Billy is raising vital funds for the charity, will compete in Hawaii as an IRONMAN ambassador athlete and has set himself the goal of setting the record as the fastest double amputee with a prosthetic leg.
Hoping to break the record and finish in under 16 hours, 26 minutes and 59 seconds, Monger’s journey will also be filmed as a documentary and broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer in 2025.
Big milestone for Monger
Monger has already reached a major milestone in his incredible challenge by successfully completing his first triathlon – the popular annual Outlaw Half in Nottingham. The challenge ahead of him – a 1.2-mile swim, followed by a 56-mile bike ride and finishing with a brutal half marathon (13.1 miles).
Billy mastered the first test with flying colors, completing the course in 6:36:50. He completed the swim in 33:17, the bike ride in 3:10:47 and, to top it all off, a half marathon in 2:39:01.
The images from the finish line show what this meant to Monger, and he emphasised this in his post-race comments, also describing the challenges he faced along the way.
Billy said: This was the first actual event I did to PREPARE myself as best as possible for KONA. 
“The running course was particularly tricky and brutal for me as a double amputee, as I had to tackle and overcome many off-road routes. 
“This was the first time I tried to run a half marathon… but WE DID IT 
“You can see how much that meant to me (definitely no tears under my glasses, by the way)
I learned a lot about myself that day.
Kona is lying in wait
Billy was very pleased with his performance in Nottingham and said that the road to get there was long and challenging and that the brutal test of Kona awaited him in October.
The race is the full Ironman distance – 3.8km of swimming, 180km of cycling and a full marathon (42.2km). And it takes place in the toughest conditions – particularly the relentless heat that has dashed the hopes of many of the sport’s greats over the years.
